In the early 1990s their was an economic recession that hit most of the world.
In the first half of the 1990s, it was the electronics equipment that contributed the most to the expansion of global trade in manufactured products.
NAFTA has had a positive but small effect on U.S. trade with Mexico and that U.S. direct investment in Mexico remains very small relative to total U.S. investment abroad.
President Clinton was president from 1993-2000 and tried to reduce the size of the federal work force.
President Clinton also joined Republicans to decrease welfare benefits.
Many of the key innovations of the New Deal and of the Great Society remained in place.
With the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism in the late 1980s, trade oppurtunites expanded significantly.
The advancement in telecommunications and computer networking produced an immense computer hardware and software industry.
In addtion, it revolutionized the way many industries operated.
The economy and corporate earnings grew rapidly.
With low employment and low inflation and strong profits sent the stock market rising.
Bill Gates & Computer Industry
"Ultimately, the PC will be a window to everything people are interested in-and everything we need to know"-Bill Gates
Bill Gates is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 20th century and is the founder of the Microsoft Corporation.
By the start of the 1990s, Bill Gates had become the PC's industry ultimate kingmaker.
Microsoft had become the world's second most valuable company, worth about $200 billion by 1998.
The federal government and 20 states accused Microsoft of using its power to gain a monopoly over the market for software needed to browse the Internet.
They sued Microsoft for violating the Sherman Antitrust Acto of 1890.
During the 1990s Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office application achieved worldwide market dominance.
However, with his success Bill Gates was accused of using his company's power to stifle competition.
NAFTA
On January 1, 1994 NAFTA was launched and is one of the most successful trade agreements in history.
NAFTA was signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Significant increases in agricultural trade and investment between the United States, Canada and Mexico has benefited farmers, ranchers and consumers throughout North American.
During 1992-2007, the value of U.S. agricultural exports worldwide has risen to 65 percent.
NAFTA improves incentives for buying within the North American region and ensures that North American producers receive the primary benefits of all newly established preferences.
NAFTA is short for the North American Free Trade Agreement and it covers Canada U.S and Mexico.
NAFTA was designed to remove tariff barriers between the U.S. Canada and Mexico over the next fifteen years.
During 1993-2007 trade tripled from $297 billion to $930 billion.
In 1993 NAFTA was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries.
Although NAFTA was started by President Bush it was a priority to President Clinton's and was considered one of his first success.
Under NAFTA the United States, Canada, and Mexico became a single, giant, integrated market of almost 100 million people with $6.5 trillion worth of goods and services annually.
NAFTA was designed to promote economic growth by spurring competition in domestic markets and promoting investment from both domestic and foreign sources.
Bill Gates & Computer Industry
"Ultimately, the PC will be a window to everything people are interested in-and everything we need to know"-Bill Gates
NAFTA
Sources
http://economics.about.com/od/useconomichistory/a/economy_1990s.htm
http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197526.html
http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/Policy/nafta/nafta.asp
http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/NAFTA_logo.png
http://inspiration101.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/bill_gates.jpg